Annual income is based on the money you received in the last financial year, as presented in your most recent set of annual accounts. If you are a new charity or constituted group that has not yet produced accounts, we ask that you provide a recent bank statement and may ask for any forecast/projections for the forthcoming year.

Charities with an annual income of more than £2 million a year would need to provide information as to why they can’t fund the project from their own funds.  We are happy to assist with fundraising and to signpost to other funders.

We can provide funding of up to a maximum of three years.

The duration of funding we are able to offer will depend on a number of factors, including the fit of your work in relation to our strategy; whether we have funded you previously; and if your work will add to our understanding of health challenges and help inform our future funding practice.

The size of our grants vary and can depend on the type of funding that you apply for.

We try to be proportionate in how much we award and take into consideration a number of factors including your organisation’s financial position and annual income; whether you have an immediate need for our funds; the fit of your work in relation to our strategy; the scale of your work geographically. We plan to share examples of these considerations in practice through case studies and other communications messaging on our website.

No. While it is always great to have some funding in place, you don’t need to have this in place when you apply. There may also be some occasions where we can fully fund some projects, so there may be instances where you do not require match funding at all.

We are asking all applicants to complete the online application forms. However, if you have any communication support needs that make reading or completing an application form difficult or impossible, please contact us to discuss alternative ways you can apply.

When we receive your application we go through all of the paperwork and make sure we have all of the required information outlined in the criteria. As part of the assessment process we engage with key organisations like Health and Social Care Partnerships and Public Health to ensure there is no duplication of provision.

After this process your application is scored against our matrix which is shown in the Governance Plan on the website. If your application is under £25,000 this is then taken to the Management Committee which is made up of the managers of the charity. This group meets monthly to ensure there is a good turnover of decisions. If your application is over £25,000 it goes to our Charitable Funds Committee where you have the opportunity to present to the Trustees and they can ask some questions.

Throughout the process we may need to engage with you to get additional information, especially if you have applied for a large grant. This is standard practice for funders to ensure we have all of the required information to make an informed decision.

Yes, however you will need to outline how this project is different from previous applications and how you will manage all of the projects in terms of your organisational capacity.

Yes however when you were sent the details of why you were unsuccessful we would expect to see a revised project with these areas addressed or a new project.

Governance relates to the way your organisation is run. It is essentially the principles against which your organisation carries out its work and your process for decision-making. We expect your organisation to have a minimum of three unconnected Trustees or Directors and for you to be able to show that you hold regular meetings. If your charity employs staff who are also Trustees/Directors, or there are any related/connected persons within the organisation, we will ask you to provide details of the policies you have in place to mitigate any conflict of interest.

It is always helpful for you to explain any plans you may have in place to change your board structure under these circumstances. Please note that we will not consider funding the salaries of employees who also hold Trustee/Director positions within the applicant organisation. Other indicators of good governance include openness and transparency with your internal policies, strong financial controls and fair decision-making processes. It also includes access to appropriate training and support for your staff and volunteers, and the effective management of relationships with partners and stakeholders. You may also want to highlight in your application any key organisation accreditations you have, and/or recent reports from regulatory bodies such as the Care Inspectorate.

Yes. If you are struggling to complete the project budget section within the application form, you can complete our separate budget sheet (Excel spreadsheet) and attach it to your application as a separate document if you wish.

We welcome applications from organisations working in partnership with others. Here we will prioritise awards for work which addresses those issues listed under one or more of our priorities. We would also expect to see a focus on prevention and on change, either at practice, organisational or at system level.

Yes. The whole application is visible to you prior to submission

We are always trying to improve the support we offer applicants and are available to answer any questions that you may have about your application form or existing grant. We are a very small team and would ask that you read the associated guidance and help text in the application forms before getting in touch. We will soon have some resources available that may help you complete your application, including videos, blogs and previous webinars.

In the first instance, we ask you to check our FAQs and any additional resources available on our website. However, we understand that you may still have questions that can not be answered from this information. We do accept enquiries by email to tay.nhstcf@nhs.scot